Road To Paradise By Wm Moedinger Strasburg RR 1971

$8.38

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The Strasburg Rail Road is a venerable institution. Founded during the first term of President Andrew Jackson, It was incorporated by a Special Act of the Pennsylvania Legislature that was signed into Law by Governor Gorge Wolf June 9, 1832. Precisely when the railroad first turned a wheel is still a matter of patient research; but it is safe to say, without the slightest fear of contradiction, that its trains are well into the second century as familiar facets of the Lancaster County scene.

The Railroad literally grew up with America, alternately prospering or eking out a precarious existence as dictated by the economic vicissitudes of the growing nation. The first major economic setback occurred around the turn of the century when a streetcar line was completed between Lancaster and Strasburg. With most of its passenger traffic diverted to the trolley, regular passenger trains were discontinued. While a daily mixed train continued to operate for years, passenger fares ceased to be an important item of income. Until the end of World War II, carload freight interchanged with the Pennsylvania Railroad kept the road solvent. Improved highway transport following the war increasingly diverted freight to the trucks so that by the mid-Fifties the Strasburg had become the equivalent of a red ink operation. Finally, in 1957, really hard times fell upon the struggling carrier. In addition to the woes of dwindling freight revenues and mounting operating costs, a series of storms of hurricane proportions literally wrecked the railroad by causing washouts and blowing huge trees across the tracks. So destructive had been the storms that an immediate embargo was placed on all incoming carload freight. Further deteriorating the roads almost untenable situation was the fact that it had by this time become part of an estate whose heirs viewed any expenditure toward rehabilitation of the railroad tantamount to throwing good money after bad. Consequently, [editions for abandonment were filed.

During those dark hours, while petitions for abandonment were being considered by Pennsylvanias Public Utility Commission and by the Interstate Commerce Commission in Washington, the late Henry K. Long, an industrialist and rail fan from nearby Lancaster, was attempting to save the historic railroad. He was trying to organize a group of interested individuals who would purchase the property at scrap value and preserve and restore it by operating it as a hobby. Interest in the project was widespread until it was learned that a share of stock would have to sell for $450.00 (there were only fifty shares outstanding). At this juncture most of the prospective stockholders disappeared with the speed of light. Undeterred, Long and three other rail fans continued the campaign, buttonholing anyone who looked who looked as though he could beg, borrow or steal the price of a share of stock. Progress continued painfully slow until someone hit upon the idea of making every stockholder a vice-president. The gimmick worked; and on November 1, 1958, acting as trustee for the purchasing group, Henry Long tendered a check in the amount of 18,000.oo to the Homsher Estate. The 126-year-old railroad faced life anew.

This book, in picture and prose, tells the story of the rebirth and restoration of the Strasburg Rail Road from the epochal day in late 1958. This is the 1971 edition of THE ROAD TO PARADISE. It tells the story of the Strasburg with more words and a greater profusion of photographs than was heretofore possible.

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